What do such things teach on love, healthy lifestyle, and kindness.

It is a mess out there. It is hard to know what is what. Many look for what to beleive in and I think this will always leave us empty. It is not so much of what we beleive but that we live by something within us. It is about who we are who we are becoming.

We don't need to be social or to have social events, they can never satisfy that longing within ourselves for connection. Where we can speak heart to heart, soul to soul. To much has been taught of our brian where what is of our spirit or heart, what is of our very essesne is processed and pasterized through our mind and what comes out is devoid of life and the passion that exist within us.

It is not a matter of being right, it is a matter of bieng who you are. I would even say not to read books, but to trust something within yourself, so that when you continue to look for that you desire, it rings true within your spirit and soul. The mind is a poor judge of these things and denies part of who we are. Discover that within yourself, develope it, do not quench it, when you communicate it do not let your mind filter out the life that wishes to come out of you. It is there within you. Yet it does not focus on you and what being right. It focuses on a life that brings, love and joy and peace within. It feels light sunlight within your heart, it is warm and peaceful and it does not teach you to love yourself but to love what you can share with others, not what you do but who you are.

This by no means is a total assessment of the Law. But maybe it will offer an account of its purpose and its lack.

No one would ever be justified by the law for by the law is the knowledge of wrong doing (sin). If a person fails in one aspect of the law, he was guilty of all of it. Therefore a sacrifice was needed to be offered as an atonement for sin, a stopless lamb, because of the law sin was punishable by death, and a goat I beleive took on the sins of the people and was relaeased to bear the sins of the people. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Yet the blood of animals could not take away the sins of the people. John when he saw Jesus, said Behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Christ was tempted in all ways as we are yet remained without sin, therefore He offered up Himself the sacrifice for sin once for all, our perfect, spotless lamb.

The law was a tudor to keep custody of Israel untill the time of Christ, the fullness of time. Many Jews and many Christians today still try to apply this law or a moral law to merit salvation or to try to keep it, but salvation only comes by grace: it is the gift of God. It is said that the the Jews had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge for rather than to SUBMIT to the righteousness of God they tried to establish their own. You see the Law is contrary to grace, for a person who tries to live by the law has fallen for grace, for it then no longer is a gift. No matter how hard we try to obey the law to become good enough, we cannot for our righteousness will always appear as filthy rags before the righteous jugdement of God. Christ said that even after we have obeyed all that He commanded we are remain unworthy servant who have done only what we ought to have done.

What the law could not do God did through Christ, that He gave His life so that each of us might have life, not according to a law which stood against us, He took on all the things that were written against us and there nailed them to the cross, Christ took on the curse of the law. He bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and LIVE FOR righteouness. The aspect of our lives and not of our selves. Therefore there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. All these things happen at the right time, in the fullness of time. Now where there is new wine there must be new wine skin, for the old cannot contain the new, for the would burst open and all the new wine would be ruined.

There is certainly good in the law for if there ever was a law that could save, it was the OT law, yet is was weak, not in and of itself but because of your flesh (our sinful nature,I know this is not the best description of it perhaps it would also be seen as our human nature). As Paul put it, the very thing that he wish to do, is what he did not, and the very thing he wanted not to do he did, yet it was not him but that the law aroused this things in him because of his flesh. Paul said that the Law is spiritual but we are carnal, because it arouses our tendency to sin, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

Yet in theory and perhaps many do still wish to observe the law, which by many indications in the NT this seems ok because there is liberty to do so according to one, faith and conscience, but not to become righteous but to yield to the righteousness of God. Christ did not come to do away with the Law but to complete it. Now in this to go further we enter into opinion and intrepretation. For His death did complete and satisfy the penalty of the Law. His teachings themselves, went beyond the eye for an eye to an higher law, one of mercy and forgiveness, of love instead of wrath, of blessing rather than curses. In many ways it is indicated that Law is the fulfilment of the Law.

It was written in both the old and the new testiments that the righteous shall live by faith. From the time of Adam, man was never created to be good, for God alone has that qualtiy within Himself, we are only vessels and instruments of the good He diesres for us to do. Man was created to have fellowship with God, and to live the abundant life, a life of God's direction for us. We look at it as hard and difficult, yet his way is nto burdensome. Christ said that His yoke is easy and His burden is light and these bring rest onto our souls.

This is by no means exhaustive, it is an overview. If we look for flaws and inconsistancies we certainly can find them if that is what we are looking for. I would say, if you do not beleive it, then you do not have to, yet look for the good you can gain from it. Look for the wisdom. Look for the Life. Be a student of one of the greatest teachers of men who with His teachings and Life changed the world.

In many ways He and His teaching are misrepresented but many. Do not judge Him by those people who do what they do because they are misguided and uninformed by those who lead them, yet they do love the Lord.

I hope this helps some, I hope all who read it will have peace with what I have written. :)

You guys overwelm me somewhat and make my brain hurt. lol It is as if I am back in school, writing out essays on a test. :)

I myself do not eat as healthy as I should yet I know not to eat things that are "Unhealthy" even if we eat plain cinnamin and raisen baggles there are better for us than galzed doughnuts. Certainly we know eating our green veggies is better than eating french fries. We would do ourselves alot of good maybe even by not thinking about being healthy but not to let ourselves eat and drink the things that we know do us no good.

Even if we can correct our eating by 10%, we have gain a messure of health. If we only exercise for 5 to 10minutes a day we have done ourselves good and have created a foundation to build on. Maybe not everything out there is healthy yet each of us can go to Subway like Jared instead of McD's. It may not be the best choice but it is most likely a better choose. If we make those choices each time we eat in time our bodies will naturally respond, and as we try to become healthier cahnce are our bodies will lose the weight that is sustained by our current habits.



'We' ???? Our government???? Our people???? Our schools???? Ourselves???? I would say it is all a part of the capitalistic pie.

I would almost get into a conspiracy theory we even with the health and diet industry. They want us to fail. It is nonsense to except people to exercise 30 to 45 minutes a day. Poepl who try to do this usually get burnt out, few sustain it for over a year, but they will try something else and when that fails, try something else that fails. The same with the diet industry, they dont want you to keep the weight off, they want you to get fat again and again and try to lose weight all type of unnatural ways, that really are in no way healthy, well maybe some are and some do good but for the most part they make it too hard or expensive for the majority of the population.

Yet I was talking more about each individual, we all can do better. Dont focus on losing weight, focus on a lifestyle that you can sustain, stay in your "success zone". Do what you are able to do and then slowly build on it. If you have a bad week month... you have not failed just can back on track, dont geve up, do what you can, if you cant do as much, do less just dont quit and in time you can be back to where you were headed.



I believe religion deals with that which one does not understand. To me, it is an a personal acceptance measure which helps ease one's mind of worry while helping to gain understanding of that which causes worry. Used for good purposes, it brings about good manifestation, and vice-versa. I would like to see more people identifying themselves with it, rather than identifying everyone else with it.

I would not say that worry is always a drive, but to reach beyond what we are. Worry in itself is something that accomplishes little. We are not in control of things so there is no need to worry. If we are ourselves and beleive we ought to do the best we can and to give it our best, I feel there is little to worry about, if I fail, I do so having done all that I could, there was nothing more I could have done, if there was then I know more of what to do next time. Worry is an inhibitor, it freezes us to where we can no longer act like ourseves and to be who we are. I have gone to meet several women over the internet, and in doing so I have placed worry as far from me as possible. I am not exactly handsome, I am short, I am bald, My teeth are not great, yet I know I wish to be who I am at all times and that I must not worry or be afraid for that will keep them from being who they are. Worry cannot change anything but often decreases our capacities to be all of who we are and that take alittle away form those minites of life. Not that we should feel bad about that, but that we can have more life when we become free of our worries.








I am sorry about this. Being a "Christian" there is an endless list of debatable doctrines and teachings. Much of these I have dismissed for they are unresolvable and really do not matter so much of the outcome of our lives. Such as once saved, always saved. Are we saved by workd or faith. Are we predestined or not. Do we need to be baltized to be saved. Fortunately I already know the answer to these, lol just kidding. But I see where niether would influence me to whether one was a brother or not. I do not let these become a matter of acceptance or fellowship because I knwo the devotion and love in that brothers heart for the Lord is no less than mine.

So afte years and years of being on one side of a debate or another I choose to look past the debate into what yields life within us. I knwo I may be a bit extreme in this. I will hopefully never debate with any one here but choose to reason along with them. Not that I would be reisitant to their thoughts but that I could understand them and join in with them. Or something like that.




I once bought roses for an ex and she asked me what I had done wrong. It was the first and last
ones...

That is so sad.


Thank you for all of you insight and comments. I try to follow along with them the best that I can. I may not have the education or background many of you have, but I have tried to dedicate myself on understanding and wisdom. I love to think, I am many times slow at it but I can think for a long time so sometimes it balances out. lol

Abracabra, you truly have an amazing mind. Soemtimes I know I am a bit simple, but simplicaity has it place and can do well. But with a mind like yours, perhaps there is no limit.

You wrote on another topic that religion and polictics have merged in some sense and that we must deal with this accordingly, or something to that affect, yet people use religion to manipulate, to attack, to gather support. Government it really ought not to have religion in it at all. Governemnt should not be Christian though it can take on some of its truths as in other religions. But we cannot legislate morality or beliefs. Government is for function, for order, for protection against the harm and oppression of others even against the oppression of Christians.

There really is not concept of a Christian nation, Christians are citizens of the Kingdom of Christ, His kigdom will never be of this world. The early Christians had no desire to make Roman a Christian nation. Yet a Christian can be in office and function in that position as a Christian, and maybe he can evangelize when he is not working but his job is not to evangelize others while he is at work, for he is in a sense corupting his office by not operating under the description and code of that position. By doing so he also does not represent all of his constituants.

Now I am by no means policical, and would not have problems with those who feel otherwise for I know other act according to their devotion and love of God, but this is not the point. I think the point is that the use of religion is something that is to be more internal, to affect our own hearts and lives, it is not to be used to bash, or to slam others, or to judge and condemn others.

Isn't religion about life, about a higher way to live that lifts all men up. Religion is not something that makes us better than others, more right than they are but it makes us better for others in how we treat them and do good for one another. I, sir am on a path, and I beleive that as many as can walk together on their simialr roads would go farther and assit each other in becoming all taht we could be. My religion does not put me at odds with any one, though I might wish all would be Christians, even the Lord says it is only for those who will. Yet as a Christian, maybe I would be good for you and you for me, that thugh any are different it does not mean that we are in conflict.

The only law would be love. If all men loved each other there would be no crime therefore no punishment.

The only thing is that men do not choose to live by love, and seek after their own interests even at the harm of others and the environment.

Can you enforce love? No. Even Christians have a hard time yielding to the fruits of the spirit, not realizing they have an obligation to do so. If we were to live by love, peace patience, kindness, gentleness, meekness, and our actions, thoughts, and words be guided buy such things these would quide us from within rather than to have laws to try to conform our behavior to.

Perhaps it would be good to have laws against greed, pride, selfishness, prejudice, anger, wrath and rage, grumpling and complaining, gossip, lust for things which are not our own, impatiance.... yet we would have all be guilty of such things. lol Fortunately over all laws there is grace, there is the chance to try again and succeed no matter how many times we need as long as we seek to do what is good and right.

Yet grace cannot be a law, it is the condition in which we are given to be free of the law and to live for righteousness, for the law is not made for the righteous, for the righteous live by faith and live to do good unto others. The law is made for those who dont yet understand.

Neither are we here to judge and to condemn others, there is only one Righteous Judge and I am not Him, yet in seeing others stumble as they see me stumble we can aid each other to do all that is in love and in good works through our lives.

Many may beleive but few have faith, our religion is our life based on the faith that we have.

We ought also to have the acceptance of others and their faith. I find that those who live by what ever faith they have within them, are closer to being a brother or sister than those who beleive as I do yet do not walk by faith.

Many agrue over the doctrines of their beliefs but must faiths have a similar approach to life. They all seek a higher understanding, detactment from possessions and themselves, and love, kindness, and good will to others.

We most likely will never be able to reach an agreement on what we each perceive as truth. So it is good to accept each other and perhaps we can walk down this path together as much as our faith and liberty will allow us.

How many people have a knowledge of how to exercize and to eat well. Most poeple want to be healthy. We know that if we live a healthy lifestyle are chances of living longer and being physically active and healthier are greatly enhanced. But at least two thirds of the populations have issues with being over weight. Our government considers this to be an epidemic. Yet it is not being overwieght that is the issue or disease. It is only the effect of not living within the perimeters of health.

There is knowledge but we do not act on the knowledge. Perhaps it is because the value of health is not worth the price of giving up our habits and of our inactive lifestyle. We also concern ourselves too much with wieght loss where that becomes our goal which can only be short term and time after time only leads us into failure.

What is knowledge without transformation. We know something but are unable to perform it because it is against our very nature. Try to become patient and you will find that you cannot. Try not to be angry and you in time will find that no matter what you do the anger will exist in you. It is throught gaining a different perspective and understanding that will result in the change of your intentions and actions because you have chnaged from within.

Religion, I beleive deals with our entirety: our heart, body, mind and soul. It deals with our emotions, it does not deny them but helps us to be able to make choices about what feeling we wishes to pursue. It deals with our minds so that we understand in filling our thoughts with good thoughts, pure thoughts, good thoughts for others without any intention of harm, we find we are not only more at peace with other, but also within ourselves.

It seems that there is so much debate about things that deal so little with our lives, that we get lost in the usefulness of our thoughts, and focus.

I started losing everything when you starting talk ing about a rose. Might as way just say a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. Perhaps even a rose is not just a rose, because in delights the senses and is an item of beauty. Bring a bouguet of roses to some woman and they melt in delight. If we are to think of a rose, how can we not think of its beauty, velvety color, and its sweet smell.

Our thoughts have the power to change our lives, they are the key to transformation. I wonder too, what if we would think together on things, to expand our thoughts and the possisbilities of where they could lead us. I beleive thoughts are not about knowlegde but about finding paths to understanding. A path is a continuation, to often our thoughts stop short of the end for there perhaps is no end to a thought but it can keep leading us to higher and nobler paths yet to be found.

I am a Christian, but really not into the stuff people do at church. I would love to find others who are pursuing a path in their life that is based on love, patience, kindness, gentleness, humility, and peace. And are searching for the wisdom and the way to do so.

I believe we can have a pure heart, that our intentions, thoughts, actions and words can be gudied and guarded by love. I am just here looking to see if "anyone" desires and lives by such things in their life.

There are many things that people accept on faith, that is: there is something in me that is convinced of something I cannot prove. I may reason that something brought order out of disorder so I would conclude that a force acted on the universe contrary to the laws that govern it. Even in life, the theory of evolution is it itself contruary to the law that everything goes from order to chaos. So there is a force that is conceivable which many would name as God.

Some claim God has communicated to us through prophets and words inspired of God. Many even think that God has written laws upon men's heart that it is wrong to kill and to steal. So many think that God has created in us a conscience that is to guide us in right and wrong. If we were to look at the chance that life could just happen, that this life that just happened would be able to survive in an enviroment that would have the necessary items to sustain it, and not only this but that it could reproduce itself or at some point have a mate of different physical makeup where the two could reproduce after their kind.

Perhaps God is the simplest answer to such things. Yet it is not proof. I have not seen God nor touch Him. His existence can be debated without conclusion, yet the same is true about God not existing. What we believe or conclude will not determine what the truth is, it remains untouch by our attempts.

Perhaps what is better is what is the purpose of man, what is His duty to the world and to his fellow man, what could man become if he could work in harmony with others for the good and advanment of all. What could we become if we reasoned and expanded each others thoughts, just how far could we go. Perhaps this is God's goal for us, if we are of the mind to believe in Him.

Even here and now can't we encourage one another to love and good deeds, to a purer love, and unconditional love, and help each other to put away, anger, selfishness, and ego for these thing not only harm others but job ourselves of the life we each could live, and what mankind could live.


That would be great if that could happen. But like someone else asked, does this cover everyone?

And like Kat pointed out, we do support each other on here quite positively in between our heated debates.


I think it covers everyone. Perhaps those who wish to stir up hate and hostility would not be welcome, yet hopefully no ill will would be communicated against them. Hate can only produse hate. We rise up against hate with hate and ager, even for the sake of peace we are often very unpeaceful. The way of peace is through peace, not through war. Others may hate us alot and may have reason to do so but that is no reason to hate them back.

I hope that in my topics all would feel welcomed and encouraged. I will try to keep away from debate and rather hope we all can find a place to grow together.

That is the nature of those things. I think there is a lack of teaching and understanding there. Unfortunately, in many of those institutes the main focus is on going to church, religious doctrine, and feeling good. I am sure this does many of those there some sort of good and fulfills soemthing with in them. Yet religion again can be different from that, by nature and approach. We do others little good by noticing what they do wrong. It is better to encourage them in the best that we can. Yet what is better than seeing their conditional love is that we ouselves find how to love others unconditionally. That we have little reason to fight with them. Many of their views may not be so different from our own, even if they are they are lie me trying to do the best they can.

We must diffuse anything within us that would bring judgement and condmenation against them. Even as a Christian, I am not here to judge anyone, I should not even judge another Christian for I am not their Master but am only a fellow servant. Certainly we can watch over one another, take care of each other, warn and guard one another against the decietfulness of wrong doing and darkness. We can watch against pride, lust, grumbling and complaining as we walk together, doing so gently and looking to ourselves that we are no better than others.

Yet if you are not a Christian, I have nothing against you and still wish to encourage you. I see futility in debate, I see the message of God is not truly one of hell but of life instead. Surely He saved us but His message is about Life and love. Not that we beeive in those thing but that we live according to them. And is this not so different from any other religion of life and love. So if others do not beleive as I do yet wish to walk in love and seek a higher understanding of what life is, I find maybe I have more in common with them then I do with many who beleive in the things that I beleive yet are within a system that often produces little life and little transformation.

It is odd how Christ never bashed the Roman governemnt, in fact the Roman ogvernment He did not see as a threat or did not make any issues of all its wrong doings. He said to give to Caesar what was caesar and to God the things that belong to God. Throughout the NT, Christian are taught to honor the king, to be compliant with government. He said that His kingdom is not of this world, that we are aliens and pilgrims.

His word were not about government reform, but about life transformation. Again, maybe others wish to be political, and wish to impose their views on others, political or religious, but I and you do not have to engage in that if we see the uselessness and unprofitability in such things, for them and for us. It is good not to be quarrelsome. It is better to reason, it is better to focus on the things that in us that cause us to war, to fight and to hate each other. Maybe we can not change the world but we can be one less engaged in its conflict. Not that we are against those in conflict, but we are for them to and wish peace and good will for all. We are no better than they, we just wish to pursue what is good for all rather than what is good for a few or for ourselves.

There is something within us all that wishes to be right. This will usually be in our way of understanding. Because we beleive something we determine that the rest of the world is wrong, accept for those who agree with us, because we are right they too are right. People use religion to hate others, to condemn others, they use it for their ego, for power, as a weapon. This is their purpose, which is so easy to do, yet it is not so important what they do but that if I can love them anyway and encourage them in their life, if I can be kind to them, respect them, then I do well for myself and for them.

We can look around us and say what others do, yet what is it that we will do. I like to think we are only in conflict because we see the world as them and as us, so what if there were no them? These are the things we see according to our mind and heart.

Too often it feels that religion becomes a matter of who is right and who is wrong in what they believe. Yet the truth is unaffected by whether we beleive that something is true or not. We must each search for the truth within ourselves and live according to it as our reality.

Religion ought to be about our way of life, of what we are inside, how we treat others, how we work within ourselves and seek transformation through understanding. If we have religion and do not love others, we do neither ourselves or others anygood in such things.

Religion is not just what we do, but the intentions behind what we do. It is about seeker to live a higher life, but to stay on the same level as all others.

Even here and now can't we encourage one another to love and good deeds, to a purer love, and unconditional love, and help each other to put away, anger, selfishness, and ego for these thing not only harm others but job ourselves of the life we each could live, and what mankind could live.